I Feel Your Heart
by AliVal13
Summary: Sora is deaf, which makes it hard for him to find work. Luckily, he finds a job at a cafe made for deaf workers. While on the job, he makes many new friends who actually understand him and eventually, a man he can't live without.
1. Sora

DISCLAIMER - I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

WARNING - Homosexuality

RANT - I have been rather interested in several fields of human study for a while and decided I'd like to start moving in to new subjects I don't see being used often. In this fiction, I'm going to be using some characters who are deaf- which includes the main character. I'm not saying I'm some expert on those with hearing loss, I'm certainly not. At all. I merely thought how it's ashame how there aren't many stories or fictions depicting someone who is deaf finding love despite certain barriers... that DOESN'T involve them somehow regaining their hearing through some operation. I hope things don't get too confusing, which they shouldn't... But just in case they do, please feel free to ask me about ANYTHING.

Also, the title is cheesy I know, but it fits well. xD

* * *

"Alright, you've been through the basic training classes, so today we'll go over how the tables work." Began a tall brunet with large muscles, a man by the simple name of "Leon"- or so said his large font nametag. He had both his hands up, waving them around his face and moving his fingers quickly. From afar or to anyone who wouldn't recognize the motions, they'd have thought he was simply the type that had to move his hands as he spoke... In truth, he was signalling to the younger male he was speaking to. As he spoke, he was repeating his words to make sure he was being understood using this other language. The one he spoke to was a younger brunet, one who was paying full attention to the bigger man's hands. "Alright, follow me."

The two brunets began to walk out of a tiny office, the door also labeled with the name "Leon" on the front of the glass. Leon stood out of his office with the door open for the smaller male, waiting for him to exit before letting the door close- as it did, automatically shutting as soon as Leon let go without even having to swing the door. He dusted off a black apron he had around his oddly small waist and neck that was covered in what looked to be flour, the exact same kind of apron (without the white powder) he moved to grab off a wall with clothing hooks. Leon tossed his small friend the apron he had jerked off the hook.

"Here, Sora, put this on."

Sora stumbled slightly as he had the apron practically thrown at him by his new frowning boss, immediately putting it on after he successfully caught it. He looked up at Leon in question, tapping his shoulder gingerly as the bigger male began to walk away again. At first, he had hesitated to stop his new employer, as the man was very scary... But he knew he had to be brave and ask questions, or he might not be able to get the job right. Once Leon turned around, he shakily lifted his hands.

"... The apron?" Leon asked in return, his hands moving fluently. "Even though you don't technically begin until your schedule is made, I'll be taking you to see the whole cafe. We bake our own desserts, so in order to try and keep your clothes somewhat clean in case of accidents, and because you have to hang on to the apron and take it home anyway, I just prefer you to wear it until you leave."

Sora smiled in return, tapping both hands with fingers erect against his chin.(1)

"No problem. Now come on."

Sora followed Leon obediently, walking behind him by at least three feet. They walked from the back of the shop and down a hallway. To the left was a small classroom of sorts, where a group of people were being taught about the items on a menu. That was where Sora had been the past two weeks. On the right was a simple break room, the door branded with a non-smoking sign.

They walked into the next room, which was a small bakery. There was only five cooks there today, each doing something different. Some were kneading dough, some were baking cakes, and others were laughing and throwing jokes back and forth as they did the last preperations on dishes. All either gracefully moving their hands about or reading each other's lips. One cook among the five was talking normally, his voice clear and crisp. He was blond and blue eyed, and though he smiled and laughed when the others joked- he actually did not speak that often himself.

Leon waved to this well speaking cook as he and Sora approached, causing the blond to suddenly stiffen- quite visibly- and grow pink in his cheeks. The blond smiled up at Leon, looking shy and so happy to see him... But the brunet didn't seem to notice it, turning to look at Sora without so much as returning the affectionate expression.

"Sora, this is Cloud. He's one of the cooks you'll be seeing most often. He runs the bakery back here for me and also preps the dishes for sending out. If there's a problem with the food, you talk to him. If there's any alterations with the orders, you talk to him. Unless he's busy, anything food is related to him- and if he is busy, then simply come to me or Yuffie. Yuffie is the girl who taught you about the menus, she's my manager over the waiters. You'll be meeting her again on your first day."

Sora nodded at Leon, looking to Cloud and offering his usual grin. He gave Cloud's face and clothes a quick glance, able to note a hearing aid in the blond's ear he hadn't been able to see until he was up close. Cloud seemed to have deflated when he went ignored by Leon, making Sora feel rather bad for him. He smiled all the same, spread his hands out, then used the tips of his middle fingers to flick off his lower chest.(2)

"Not much..." Cloud replied quietly, making an almost dismissive hand move away from his neck.(3)

Sora chuckled. He then turned to look at Leon as the older brunet gently tapped his shoulder, now waving him away from the chef tables and over to a case hanging on the wall. Sora looked up at the case first, seeing the flickering lights of these black boxes that looked almost like beepers attached to what he assumed were chargers. Leon opened the small case, pulling an available beeper-thing out and showing it to Sora. The small brunet looked directly at him for instruction.

"Ninety-percent of our workers are either deaf or have hearing problems, that's the point of this cafe. You know that part already." Leon began, turning the beeper on. It bleeped to life. On one side of it was a number pad, in which Leon typed in his I.D. number. He showed Sora the screen afterwards, allowing Sora to watch as the black box logged him in.

"First you will put in your I.D. and password, which you will receive the next time you come back. Then you will be assigned tables, the numbers will also be typed into your box." The screen, after logging him in, simply asked "Table No.:", now awaiting a table number. Leon looked over to a dry-erase board right beside the box of chargers where a chart of tables had been drawn in. "Every day, your assigned tables will be set up here. Waiters will sometimes have their tables switched, depending on the time of day, so be sure to keep checking the chart. To make it a little easier, these babies are programmed so that no two waiters can have the same table typed in."

Sora nodded to indicate he understood, even shook his head no when asked if he had any questions.

"Follow me to the floor, and be careful of the waiters."

Leon walked Sora out from the back of the shop into a rather cozy setting. There were around twenty-odd tables on the floor, which was wooden. Each had comfortable chairs with large cushy pillows for sitting. The windows had thin blue curtains, casting a soft blue light around the room. Though some of the other customers were doing what Sora had to do to speak most of the time, many others were talking and drinking coffee- completely casual around the deaf despite not being deaf themselves. Some soft music was playing, though Sora couldn't hear it.

The large brunet brought Sora over to a fairly empty section, as the cafe was only half filled at the moment. Not a very busy time, apparently. He stopped before one of the tables, placing a hand on another black electronic device that was attached into the table's end to show Sora what he was about to talk about. He then typed in a number on the beeper, number nine- as it read on the device. He then lifted his hands as he began to explain.

"This is what these little connectors... well, connect to. When a customer presses this button..." There was a button that was only an inch wide, bright red. It was the only button on the table. He placed the beeper into Sora's hands, then pressed this red button on the black device attached to the table. Sora laughed, having jumped from shock as the beeper began to vibrate. It didn't simply tingle either, as a phone might. It shook around in his hands, demanding attention. Sora looked at the beeper, noting the bright red lettering that said "Table 9! Table 9!".

Leon waved his hand before Sora to regain his attention. "Do you understand?"

Sora made a fist, lifting it up so the knuckles faced toward Leon, then moved it as if knocking on a door.(4)

"Good. Well, that's all you'll be needing to know for now..." Leon began, clicking the beeper back off, then moving a hand to rub his chin in thought. He looked about the cafe, his face twisted in thought.

"Hmm... I guess that really is it." He turned back to Sora. "I'll be sending your schedule via email."

Sora nodded.

Leon reached out a hand, which Sora took politely. They shook, then Leon signed the words:

"Welcome to the Quiet Cafe'. I hope you enjoy working here."

* * *

1.) Sign language for "Thank you".

2.) Sign language for "What's up?"

3.) Not necessarily considered sign language, but understood to be something like "Whatever" or "Hey, I guess...". Just a symbol of dismissing the person, so to speak.

4.) Sign language for "Yes".

What'cha think? The whole idea is actually pretty cute to me x3

Read, review, NO FLAMES. And no copying! NO STEALING THIS IDEA.


	2. Namine

WARNING - Cuteness, minor drama, Cloud being pathetic.

RANT - Believe it or not, I came up with this idea while watching a show called _Deadly Women_. The episode I saw was about a deaf woman who was inlove with another deaf woman. Her name was Daphne. Daphne became horribly jealous when her on/off girlfriend, Sally, began to hang out with another woman (also deaf). Daphne killed the second woman under the delusion that Sally was going to leave her forever for this woman. Turns out, the girl Daphne killed was completely and UTTERLY straight, Daphne had the wrong idea. Daphne killed her, then chainsawed her body. O.o

No idea WHY that gave me this idea, but wowzerz. How a cafe love story comes from a gorey murder story that had NOTHING to do with a cafe at all, I have no clue. Only similarities is that in both the peeps are deaf.

* * *

"Hello, I'm Yuffie!" Said a rather hyper brunet girl. She was much taller then Sora, by at least a head, and wore some of the shortest shorts Sora had ever seen.

_Are those even regulation?_ Sora thought with a laugh, waving back at Yuffie as she energetically greeted him.

"Hello." She said again. It was obvious to Sora that Yuffie wasn't used to sign language completely, as she used the longer version. She signalled to him "hello" using the alphabet instead of much simpler gestures and facial expressions. Her fore and middle fingers stood erect and pressed together on one hand, making almost like a pistol. She tapped it, then made an "e" motion- very quickly moving into an "L" sign. She ended her greeting with an "o", then waved again.

_She's most likely not deaf herself. I don't know anyone who still uses the basic alphabet. How is she a manager here?_ Sora signaled back by giving a simple salute motion toward his forehead, smiling politely.(1) He went on to gently pat his chest once, then make the pistol symbol with both his hands the same way Yuffie did, but he tapped them together- one on top of the other- instead of pointing or bouncing. Then fisted, and pistoled again very quickly with one hand.(2)

"Ah, yes. We met in menu classes! I don't usually teach those, so I should have totally remembered. Sorry!" Yuffie took much longer to signal back, having to spell out each of her words. Sora understood all the same, patiently waiting for her to finish signalling. "Welcome on board, Sora! As I said, I'm Yuffie. I'll be your direct boss under Leon. Today you'll be starting out by food running. We don't like giving the new waiters any tables right off the bat, we prefer you get used to the menu first. Makes things easier. I know you had menu class, because I taught it- so of course you know the menu well... But we like to double check. It also helps with knowing where all the tables are and how all dishes are suppose to look before being walked out. Sometimes the chefs, while in a hurry, miss details or get certain orders wrong- so pay lots of attention!"

Sora began to walk as Yuffie waved him forward after her, the two of them walking further into the store and toward the back again. The cafe hadn't opened yet, it was much too early. Inside there were only a few servers, each cleaning all the wooden furniture and setting up the scented chocolate candles that sat in the middle of each table. The floors were freshly mopped, making the brunet feel a little guilty as he tredded across the clean floor- despite not having any mess to leave behind on his shoes.

Yuffie stopped as they came to the back, standing before the chef tables again. Cloud was working this morning as well, by himself for now. Sora watched him, supposing Leon only needed one person to prep the tables... Either that or Cloud liked to work alone, he did seem awkward with people (except that time with Leon, of course). He turned back to his manager as she tapped his shoulder.

"Alright! Food running. It's just what it says it is, you will be dealing with the food. You'll be carrying it out to the customers as the orders are made. Memorize the table chart, it'll be crucial. And always ALWAYS double check the food receipts, they'll tell you which customer at what seat got what dessert. The receipts will also say how each meal was altered, if there was altering to be needed. Some people are allergic to peanuts, and some of our dishes have peanuts. Very important. Okay?"

Sora nodded, looking a little nervous.

_I know I can do the job, I just hope I don't get so pressured about getting it right that my memory starts to collapse... Then again, I am new. I have at least a week of free passes out of trouble, I'll easily remember the table chart by then. _The brunet grinned confidently, nodding again.

"Good. Oh, and be sure to say hi to Cloud!" Yuffie grinned over at the bloond chef, who scowled at her unpleasantly. Yuffie sighed at him, then said- her hands down, so she wasn't signalling, "he rejected you again, eh? My brother likes you, I swear, he's just got a stick up his butt."

The blond huffed at her, lifting a bottle of cleaning spray and playfully aiming. Yuffie ducked quickly. Despite the brunet woman not signalling, as Cloud could hear with the aid in his ear, Sora understood what she said. He was very good at lip reading.

"Who is your brother?" Sora asked out loud, in a very sweet voice. Both managers looked at him in surprise. It wasn't so strange that a deaf person could read lips, it was actually extremely common. What surprised them was that Sora was lacking any difficulty with speaking...(3) However, he did speak a little too quietly, his words a little slow- as if to make sure he was speaking correctly.

Yuffie blinked again, tilting her head. She asked, still not signalling, "you speak so clearly!"

"Oh..." Sora began. "I had hearing until I was sixteen. I was near an explosion and it... busted my ears, I guess you would say."

"I'm so sorry..."

"It's fine. I do well, despite having lost my hearing. It just made it hard to find a job." Sora chuckled at them, perfectly cheerful.

"I can hear fine, but my older brother was born deaf. He had surgery to hear again a few years ago, then started this cafe." Yuffie looked so proud.

"Oh, so your brother is Leon?"

"Yep!"

_That explains why she's so high ranked. _"Congratulations."

"Thanks! You're so polite, Sora." Yuffie turned to Cloud again. She huffed, walking around the table to grab Cloud by one muscular arm. He was attempting to sneak away while she was busy talking to Sora. "You gotta stay and explain your job!"

"Why? It's not as if he'll be a cook..." Cloud grumbled in discontent, still dragging Yuffie. He was much stronger then she was, but where was he to go anyway? He stopped and sighed, looking miserable.

"He might have to be used as a prep cook, though! You gotta explain it to him!"

"Can't you let me just drown in my own misery...?"

Sora wasn't able to see the whole conversation, but what he could was a little funny. He did feel bad for Cloud though.

_Poor Cloud... He did look so happy to Leon last week when we met. He must really care about him. I wonder why Leon would reject him? After all, Cloud is very good looking- and Leon is very obviously gay._ Sora went wide-eyed, looking a little shock as he continued to wonder to himself. Yuffie and Cloud, meanwhile, continued their conversation- Sora too busy thinking to see Yuffie glomp the poor blond, or to see Cloud fall down into about a pound of dough thanks to said action. _What if... What if Leon says 'no' because Cloud has hearing problems? Leon doesn't have them anymore. I know a few people, once they can start hearing, they think they're too good for deaf people... Poor poor Cloud.._

Speaking of him, Leon walked out from the back where his office was, his brow twitching as he noted the blond with a face full of dough and Yuffie cackling. The smallest brunet looked up at the manager, forwning slightly... doing his best not to assume.

_It's wrong to think badly of others before knowing them... but still._

Cloud growled at Yuffie as Leon walked to him, too angry to notice the store manager helping clean his face off. Sora laughed and smiled, completely relieved, as Leon gave Cloud's powdered cheek a long lick, then made a disgusted face from the taste of plain dough. The blond burst into red all over his face, looking many times happier then he did.

"Wait, I thought you rejected him?" Yuffie asked, shocked to see the display of affection.

"I never said that. You assumed it." Cloud replied for the brunet, who immediately snuggled up to the manager. He looked like a content kitten, nuzzling and squeezing Leon's waist and chest- a complete one-eighty from his bad mood.

"Then why were you acting so depressed and mad?"

"You already forgot?" Leon gave Yuffie a flat look, his arms loosely hugging the blond- who was still attempting to drown him in affection. "I'm going on a trip next week. I told him today."

"Oh yea... That." Yuffie scratched the back of her head and laughed. "I knew that!"

Sora felt so lost, staring between all of is managers, trying to keep up with the conversation. It was rather hard though, giving him a headache. He gave up and sighed, which caught their attention again.

Yuffie blinked at Sora, quickly apologizing. She signalled it this time. "Sorry sorry sorry!"

Leon's flat expression turned even flatter. "Learn proper sign language already! You've been living with me for twenty years, just do it!"

"This is proper sign language!" Yuffie argued. "Besides, you didn't need much signalling when we were growing up, you were an awesome lip reader."

_That explains that._ Sora chuckled. It was a little hilarious how quickly his questions were being answered, as if his managers could read his mind.

Yuffie turned back to Sora. "Next week, Squa-"

"It's _Leon_."

"_Leon_ will be leaving for a few weeks on a trip to check out the new location for a new Quiet Cafe." She explained happily, looking so proud again. Her eyes even seemed to sparkle. The girl in short-shorts turned to Leon again, hands down. "So, why not take Cloud with you? You might not be returning for a long time."

"Because he's taking my place as temporary store manager. I can't trust you." Leon said quite simply, turning his head to give Cloud's lips a quick peck. He let him go after that, turning back to his office. "I better not hear anymore crashing. We open soon!"

Cloud looked so helpless, hesitantly letting Leon go. He turned back to the remaining brunets then toward his work station, looking so lost and forlorn. His eyes even seemed a little watery. Such a big guy, being so clingy to even bigger guy...

Sora tried his best not to chuckle at him.

Sora was brought through the kitchen again, getting instructions on how to work the ovens, clean the back, work the soda machines, and even when to change the coffee. He was introduced to the table beepers again and the table chart, then given a very quick test on which table was which when he was walked back out onto the floor. Afterward, he was taken to the back again.

"Okay, so do you still have that little menu booklet?"

Sora produced from an apron pocket a small, laminated booklet on a ring.

"Good. In there are all the pictures of all the dishes we have, use it as a reference for whenever you're about to run food out. Don't rush! Even if it means the customer may have to wait an extra minute to get their food, we would rather the customer wait then get the order wrong and have something even worse happen. Okay?"

Sora nodded at her, putting the little booklet back into his pocket.

"Always check." Yuffie repeated, then smiled brightly. "Well, I think that's about it. Everything else you just sort of pick up and learn along the way. Just remember that the most important rule is safety, safety, SAFETY!"

"Miff Yuuffie."

Yuffie turned as she heard a slightly muffled-sounding voice call her name. Sora turned with her, seeing a young blond girl standing at the entrance/exit of the kitchens. The blond girl was a little short, all in white, and very pretty- with crystal blue eyes and a shy smile.

"Ah, Namine!" Yuffie lifted her hands. During the time when she was with Sora, she had pretty much stopped signalling- even though that meant she had to repeat herself a couple times (as she speaks rather fast on a normal basis). "Namine, this is Sora. The new trainee." Yuffie turned to Sora. "Sora, this is one of our trainers, she'll be personally seeing to your 'education' of the cafe. She'll show you how to hold a tray, how to handle a bad situation with irrate customers, and how to tell where each seat at each table is."

Namine slid her hands across each other gently, as if she were wiping something off her hands. They were flat on top of each other, her bottom hand's palm facing upward to the ceiling. She then quickly lifted her hands, fisting both except the pointer fingers. The pointer fingers dropped into the fist, then lifted back up. She soon tapped the knuckles together. To end the gesture, she pointed at Sora with another sweet smile with one finger.(4)

Sora did the same thing, then shook hands with her. Namine's hands were very soft, if not a little cold from the air conditioning. Sora immediately thought that, if he were not gay, he might find it easy to fall for this girl. He also thought, immediately after that, he _had_ to know what lotion she used.

"Yay!" Yuffie bounced in place and clapped her hands, making Namine giggle. "Now that we're all nice and introduced, let's open the store and have some fun! You can meet the other servers while you work."

Sora nodded, watching Yuffie run off. The brunet was pulling a chain of keys out of her tiny pocket, which simply dumbfounded Sora

_How does she keep anything in those little pockets, much less a bunch of keys?_

Namine tapped his shoulder to get his attention again. Once more, she was grinning- a little more so now that she got to speak top Sora alone. Though, she only had one thing to tell him.

She cupped her hand so the palm was facing Sora first, then gently made a forward half circle- her hand's palm ending up facing the ceiling. Still moving casually with her hands, she fisted her left hand with only the pointer finger straight up- her other hand also fisted with the point finger up, but instead of having it stand before her face as her left hand did, she had her right hand's finger jet upward into a circular motion from the side until the tips pressed together. Both her hands were lifted after that, both hands flat and facing opposite walls, with the left hand in front of her right. She slid them both downwards. To end her sentence, she made a "c" symbol with her right hand on the right side of her chin, then bounced her "c" over to the left side, ending it with a quick slide down directly from the left side of her chin.

_Welcome to the Quiet Cafe. _

Namine smiled. Her right hand lifted, her three middle fingers in a loose fist as her pinky pointed out and her thumb stood straight. From that, she quickly moved both her hands again, her right going to the side of her head- giving it a light tap- as her left was in front of her face. Both were straight. From there, she gave her fingers, not her hands, two quick jumps. She pointed at Sora, then she fisted both her hands and tapped the front of her left wrist over the back of her right hand. To end her message, she simply waved both her hand before her chest- her hands held out with her fingers together, thumbs seperated, and palms up. She giggled again.

_I hope you enjoy working here._

* * *

1.) The very simple version of saying "Hello" in sign language. Looks like a salute.

2.) Sign language for "My name is".

3.) Sora may speak normally, but those who are born deaf or who have lived with hearing loss for a long time would typically have a lisp or very obvious difficulty with speaking. Since they can't hear, they would not know how to sound out words completely. I explained why Sora speaks alright, but he's the ONLY deaf character (and there are five completely deaf characters) that can. And that's ONLY because he had a lot of time to learn. Namine, on the other hand, obviously does not have the same advantage.

4.) "Nice to meet you".

BIG PROPS TO _**Zaya**_ FOR INTRODUCING ME TO AN AWESOME AND SIMPLE ASL SITE. Super appreciated.

I'm sorry if those two sentences seem HUGE, I just wanted to make sure the description was correct and well understood. I'm afraid to say, only the simple stuff that anyone would say to greet or ask other people is... well... simple. Anything specific, I'll have to make into big descriptions like that. But I don't mind doing it if it'll help people understand the language a little.

Read, review, no flames plz.


	3. Riku

WARNING - Fluffen fluff fluff, long descriptions of ASL, some rushing.

RANT - In truth, I'm doing my best to update as much as possible, but if things do begin to slow down it is NOT because I want them to. Life gets in the way sometimes... and so does lack of motivation to NOT be a slug when at home.

I must say, I really REALLY was expecting some people to be very mad at me for putting this fiction up. After all, I'm not deaf, who am I to write about those who are? I decided to go with it anyway and just HOPE I don't receive too many flames... But I was surprised to find many people liked my fiction. It's only two chapters in and there aren't that many reviews, but from the reviews I HAVE gotten... I gotta say, I feel awesome. I was told people are learning how to do sign language or are becoming interested in it because of this, and I've received a good bit of support, lots of faves, and lots of alerts.

Thanks to those who have read and sent me some good feeback. It's super encouraging (it also makes me feel extremely guilty when I take long breaks from updating xD)! Thanks also to _**Zaya**_, who introduced me to a perfect website for ASL and helped me to understand a few things.

Lastly, forgive my bad grammer. xD And please PLEASE ask me questions or send me private messages should ANYTHING be confusing to ANYONE.

* * *

Sora Islands was enjoying his lunch break with co-worker and close friend, Namine. They were enjoying some coffee at a back room table. Sora's mug was filled with basic black while Namine enjoyed a caramel laced expresso. The blond was happily expressing the success of a recent relationship she had begun to the brunet, who was both happy for her and depressed- or so said the smile he somewhat forced over his boyish face.

Namine suddenly paused her hands, laying them over the table a moment as she tilted her head at her friend. There was still a smile present, but her brows were furrowed into sudden worry. Namine lifted her right hand, fingers seperate and extended, and gently rubbed in a small dot with her middle finger on the middle of her chest. She then made like a soft karate chop with the same hand into her left hand, which was held straight and flat like a board. Her right hand quickly pointed to Sora with a loose fist, left hand deftly touching near her right elbow. She ended her statement with a rather common "What?" move of shrugging her shoulders up slightly and extending her hands out, palms up, with a confused expression.(1)

_Do you feel alright?_

Sora blinked at first, his eyes slightly widened. He lifted a hand to his mouth, coming to the sudden realization he was letting his sadness show a little too well. He waved a dimissive hand. The brunet immediately put on a nonchalant face, his right hand, middle finger pointing toward himself, gently tapped the middle of his chest. He then lifted the same hand and flattened it as it waved away from his chest, his left hand coming out to stand like a board. He first chopped his right hand into his left with it tilted more toward the right. Then, while both hands stayed connected in that chop, tilted it to the left gently. After that, he had his right hand stand up straight and flat as he rubbed the tips of his three middle fingers on his left hand against the palm.

_I'm fine! Honest. _

Though Namine wasn't what one would label as the nosy sort, she was the biggest worry wart Sora had ever met. One sign of discomfort or anything other then happiness, and Namine was flying off like Wonder Woman to save the day... or at least do what she could. It was both a blessing and a nuisance to have someone so caring and attentive around. So as Sora knew she would not simply leave this be or change the subject, not without stressing out about him all day, he decided to make up a somewhat honest excuse.

Sora first touched the back of his right hand with his left middle finger, the other fingers straight and seperate. He bounced his finger off the back of his right hand, then both hands curled toward his face as they lifted upwards. Now in front of his face with his arms extended outward slightly, he flicked both his hands toward Namine. He ended his statement by fisting his right hand and using the pointer finger to draw a small air circle three times near his temple.

_Been thinking._

Namine fisted her right hand tight, the back of it facing Sora first. She then spun her hand around, her thumb and pointer making an almost rectangle shape as the other three fingers extended outward.

_Of?_

Sora pointed to himself first, then lifted both hands with both pairs of pointer and middle fingers extended straight up as the other fingers pressed against each other by the tips. He ran them in quick side-ways circles near his face three times, his right hand moving at counter clock-wise ahead of his left, which was moving clock-wise. He pointed to himself again, then lifted both his hands up. With the thumbs pointing down, he cupped all his remaining fingers with his hands at least a foot apart, though paralell, as if holding a cup sideways, then swung them in an upside-down rainbow motion at the same time and speed. Half way across the rainbow swing, he stopped his hands then lifted them up with the palms moving toward the ceiling. He then flicked them out. Sora began to shake his head "no" as his right hand fisted, thumb flat against the side. After that, his right hand moved as if to grab a bug right out of the air, first with an open hand moving forward, then snatching it back in a fist. He ended his statement by fisted both hands and tapping his right wrist over the back of his left wrist.

_I'm worried I didn't get the job.(2)_

Namine chuckled, looking very much relieved. She smiled brightly at her brunet friend, waving a dismissive hand at him. Then she pointed to him casually before placing the pads of her thumbs over her pinky nails, her three middle fingers straightening into the air. She waved them twice in circular motions before her face, then placed them before her again as if holding a medium ball. From that ball holding position, she made a motion that looked as if she were pulling or tearing this imaginary ball in half. To end her sentence, she made a similar presentation with her hands as she did when she "broke" the ball, but this time her hands were much flatter and appeared to float away instead of "rip" something.

_You worry too much! _

The blond girl knocked her first against the air as if knocking on a door, gently nodding her "yes". She pointed to Sora again, then made both her hands into fists. With her left hand in that fist curled downward, she curled her other fist upward- then tapped the wrists together with her right hand over the left.

_Of course you got the job! _

She pointed to Sora again quickly before he could begin his protest. She let her left hand fall loose at the wrist, her right hand's middle finger touching the back of her wrist with the rest of her right fingers lifted away. Both her hands broke away from this touch as if to break something in half, then she flicked them both toward Sora. Namine lifted her hands again, placing them almost directly on her chest over both her armpits, palms up toward the ceiling as if she were holding or presenting something, then running them in very light circles. She presented the number two with her fingers, then pointed to Sora. She lifted her hands as if to give him a double high five, bounced them in the air, then lowered them in the same position and bounced them again. To end her sentence, she once again made two fists, curling the left one down and the right one up before bumping the wrists together- right hand over the left.

_You've been here for two years now, and you're a great worker. _

Namine moved to touch her forehead with her fingers, then sort of flicked her hand downward, thumb and pinky out. Her hand moved to stand straight like a board beside her mouth, like one might when whispering something, then jerked herself and this hand forward lightly. Both her hands moved to her waist, both flat and pointed mostly downward. She lightly turned her hands so the tips of her fingers were pointing upward. Then, she pointed to Sora and lifted her hands to both sides of her head, the pads of her fingers pressing together in a pinch. Then began to slide down quickly in a straight line, both hands flattening.(3)

_Why wouldn't Leon let you be a trainer?_

Sora smiled at her gently, though he didn't seem so sure. He placed both his hands on his chin, laying them flat with the tips at the point, then quickly jerked them out away from his chin and toward Namine. He pointed at her, almost weakly, then laid his left hand flat with the palm up as he ran his equally flat right hand over the left, right hand's palm down.

_Thanks, Namine, you're nice._

He pointed to himself, his pointer finger poking right into the middle of his chest. Both his hands moved into a loose "c" shape, his right hand nearly touching his forehead as his left hand had the palm facing the wall. He waved only the fingers twice in a quick, jumping motion. He pointed to himself again, then he fisted his hands with the thumbs out, palms down with the thumb facing each other. He knocked his hands down once like that, then he lifted only his right hand up, two fingers standing up against each other with the rest of his hand in a fist. He had his fingers pointed to the ceiling as he moved them four times in a tight circle. He lifted both hands back into the air, tapping all the pads of his fingers together three times. Sora laid his right hand out with the palm up and did the same for his left hand, but then tapped his left hand in this new position into his right hand twice.

_I hope so. I could use the extra money._

Namine chuckled, lifting her right hand up. She crooked her pointer finger and wiggled it three times fast, then fisted her hands with the palms facing downward and the thumbs pointing at each other. She knocked them once. She shook her head no as her right hand stayed fisted, thumb up toward her face. He rleft hand, palm up, was flattened as her right hand fisted, pinky and thumb out, then slid across the palm of her left hand. To end her sentence, she had her whole right arm sit like a board, then put the elbow of her left arm over her right hand. Left arm sitting up at first, she then had it gently close down over the right arm.

_Who couldn't these days?_

Their conversation had ended just in time for someone else to enter the room, both workers turning to the door near by and presenting the new comer with their usual smiles. The brunet waved, grinning a little wider as he recognized who it was.

"Hi, Yuffie!"

"Hey guys!" Yuffie just waved back instead of signing. Around the cafe, most of the people who worked were good at lip reading. Or at least Sora was, and that was who she came to see. "Sora, you have a table."

"Thanks, Yuffie." Sora nodded to the older brunet girl, waving again to be polite as she left. He turned to Namine, who was standing up to throw away a small plastic mircowave plate that had been her lunch. He explained to her as she came back to the table, and she waved him out of the break room.

"Which table?" Sora asked to Yuffie as he jogged to catch up with her down the hall. She stopped to look at him just as they reached the kitchen, not far from where Cloud was busy making fudge. He had almost run right into the older girl, she had halted so quickly. Yuffie smiled brightly.

"Table three." She suddenly giggled, both hands moving to cover her mouth. Sora couldn't hear it, but she seemed to be having trouble with her laughter. She moved her hands away after a few seconds time to calm down, practically squirming in place. "And they are so cute!"

"Cute?"

"Yeah! Muscular athlete types! My favorite."

Sora chuckled at her, shaking his head. "Right after musicians, hot geeks, and sensitive emo boys, right?"

"Oh, go tend to your table! And try not to drool over them like you did that hot business guy last week." Yuffie snapped back, but very playfully. She smiled again and moved to head out onto the floor herself, back to her hostess duties.

"I didn't drool! And you're one to talk!" Sora called back after her, having to use a lot of energy to supress the pout that threatened. _Okay, maybe a little... He was hot, and I do kind of have a thing for older guys. I can't help it! I'm lonely..._

Sora moved toward the entrance from the kitchens to look out onto the floors. He half-way hid himself behind the wall where one of the table charts were standing, carefully looking about for the group at table three. Almost immediately, his eyes went wide and he had to slap a hand over his mouth and nose. But not to drool or have some weird fanboy nose bleed, but from the instinct not to breathe the unfiltered air. It was true, the guys that sat at the table were very good looking... But they also appeared very stinky. There were three of them, all muscular, cute, and very sweaty. Their clothes were dirty, stained, and everything about them appeared a little gross.

_Uniforms, muscles, and a ton of sweat stains... Definitely definitely DEFINITELY the sporty type._

Sora didn't seem too happy about his table, but he had a job to do. So, with a polite smile and a little note pad, he stood straight at the entrance from the kitchens and began the walk to his first table of the day.

"So, what do you plan to get?"

"Not sure yet... Should we really be eating dessert right after practice anyway? Coach would kill us if he saw us."

"Don't be such a goody goody. We can all stand a little chocolate break. You especially, with how obsessive you are about work outs."

"I have to work out often, my metabolism is slower then a turtle!"

"Hi!" Sora interrupted gently with his usual warmth and the practiced smile that lit his boyish face up so well. The brunet was more then happy to find out that the horrible body odor he had been expecting to smell as soon as he walked over was not nearly as bad as he had imagined it would be. He had a pencil ready on the paper, looking about the group slowly. "My name is Sora! I'll be your waiter today. Please speak slowly and directly at me or I'll miss your order."

"... Are you really deaf?" Asked a blond teen to Sora's right. Or what appeared to be a teenager. He was very young looking. The blond male was blinking at Sora, shock evident in his wide eyes. "Wow! You sound so normal!"

"Tidus! Rude, much?" The male in the middle of the three said. He was broader then the blond, with long silver hair back in a firm braid. Sora assumed he had kicked "Tidus", as the blond suddenly jumped with an obvious yelp, now rubbing his shin.

"What? What'd I say?"

"It's alright." Sora assured quicky, waving a dismissive hand. "I'm not offended or anything." He turned to Tidus mostly then. "I had hearing until I was in high school. An explosion happened and I was a little too close. My ear drums were, well, destroyed, turning me deaf."

"Oh, that sucks..." The silveret said, furrowing his brows together.

Sora turned to face them all again, shrugging gently. "So, do you guys know what you'd like to drink? We have a special on teas today!"

"Hm... Tea is a little boring..." Finally, the third male spoke up. He was much shorter then the other two, and his muscles were a little harder to find- mostly because of his skin tone. He had navy-blue hair, an odd color on a person. It was styled to hang over his face where a soft, almost neutral frown was present. He turned his dark blue eyes up to Sora. "Just get me a regular coffee. Black."

Sora nodded, turning to the other two. "And for you?"

"I'll have a raspberry fizz." The silveret replied after another moment of thought, now distracted by the dessert section of the menu.

"Coke." Tidus nodded firmly, as if to confirm for sure. "And make it a float." He handed his menu over, almost hitting Sora in the elbow as he jerked it without a care to the brunet, who took it from his hangs gently.

"Alright... That's one plain coffee, one raspberry fizz, and a coke float?" Sora repeated after he wrote the orders down. "Do you know what you'd like for dessert or is this it?"

The blunet shrugged and handed over his menu without a word. The silveret seemed thoughtful, then nodded to himself. He looked up. "I'll have..." The middle boy looked up at Sora, almost looking confused. The brunet took it as indecision, but before the waiter could suggest giving him a little extra time to think it through, he finally shook his head and replied: "I'll have a chocolate melt."

"Chocolate melt? What kind of ice cream?"

"Vanilla."

"Excellent choices! I'll be right back with your drinks." And Sora was off, quickly walking back to the kitchens. He didn't notice the silveret watching him, still looking thoughtful.

"I'm surprised you're going for such a fatty dessert." Tidus mentioned as he leaned back in his chair, looking to the middle boy. "Riku? You okay?"

Riku, the silveret, shook his head and turned to Tidus. "I'm sorry, what?"

The blond smirked at him, a rather cat-like smile crossing his cute face. "Uh oh, does someone have a crush? What ever will your girlfriend think?"

"For the last time... A stalker does not a girlfriend make."

"Right, right..." Tidus nodded, not looking as if he believed him. "Well, the waiter is pretty cute. For a dude. I guess."

"I thought he was attractive." The blunet said with an uncaring face, making it impossible to know if he was just kidding or not.

"You think everyone is 'beautiful in their own right'."

"Don't mock me for my beliefs. Everyone is beautiful in their own right, some more so physically then others. That one is attractive, and he seems nice."

"What does it matter?" Riku said, letting out a frustrated sigh that blew a piece of his sticky bangs from his face. "He's deaf."

"So?" The blunet quirked a brow.. maybe. It was hard to tell with his hair covering over one of his eyes. "Being deaf shouldn't make a difference."

"So... It'd be hard to keep conversations. You know I talk funny sometimes, I _was_ raised in the deep south. What if he didn't understand my accent? I can't use sign language either." Riku shrugged, though he did seem a little depressed. He tried to hide it with a smirk. "In bed, however... I'd be more then happy to communicate a few things I'm sure wouldn't be misunderstood."

Tidus laughed. "Right, right..."

"Ugh... why are we friends again?" The blunet shook his head, lips in a thin line and eyes rolling.

* * *

If you haven't noticed, I've decided to put italics to explain what Sora and others are saying. Why? So people don't have to keep jumping to the bottom of the page for a translation. This is ONLY when a deaf person is speaking to a deaf person, which means it does NOT apply should say Sora talk to Yuffie.

ALSO, as it was explained to me, every person's name has a special symbol. Even if two people have the same name, it is not necessarily the same sign for both people. Depending on the characteristics of the person, that determines the symbol (for example, if someone is loving, they might circle over their heart as their name). Because I'm afraid of doing it wrong or possibly insulting someone (I would be SO tempted to make Leon's name something perverted), and I am a very, VERY lazy, lazy person... I will not be assigning characters ASL signs for their names. Maybe when I am better educated about ASL, this will change.

(1) I SWEAR when people talk using signs, it is so much faster then how it reads. I actually have to ask them to talk slower. x.x

(2.) "_I'm worried I didn't get the job." _NO. These are not the exact translations. If I used the exact translations, it'd look more like this: _"Me worry me did not get work." _ASL does not have contractions such as "I'm". I couldn't put "I am" either because "am" does not exist in ASL as anything other then "A.M." like morning time. I could either put "I" by itself or "me" by itself. I went for "me" because I'm told that is the more appropriate option.

(3) The last part of that is actually translated to "Teacher", which I am not sure if that is the correct work to replace "trainer" with.

Lastly, yes. We will occasionally see things from the point of view of other people. In fact, every character I have mentioned so far has at least a little time in different parts of the story where they get time in the spotlight. I also know this whole thing seems a little short and rushed, but this chapter was mostly for me to kind of figure out how things are going to look when convos between Namine and Sora arise. I hope everyone liked the new chapter anyway and I'll try harder to update more often!

READ, REVIEW, NO FLAMES.


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